Ridiculing Ralph

Posted by The Nader Team
on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 07:05:00 PM

In a letter to Congress on July 23, 2008, Ralph Nader warned that
the federal government’s bank insurance fund may be insufficient to
handle the developing crisis in the banking industry.

The day after Ralph sent out his warning, he was ridiculed in Congress.

One
member, Spencer Bachus, at a Congressional hearing, mentioned Ralph’s
letter and said point blank "Our banks are well capitalized, our
deposit insurance fund is sound. There’s absolutely no factual basis
for saying that there’s not money there to pay."

Fast forward to September 17, 2008, today, less than two months after Ralph sent his letter.

And
now we have an Associated Press story, featured prominently right now on
the Drudge Report, with the headline "Federal bank insurance fund dwindling."

Here’s the opening sentence from the AP report today:

"Banks
are not the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The
fund established to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch,
and the taxpayer may be the lender of last resort."

The reality is that the Democrats and Republicans have screwed up royally.

They have screwed up because they are under the thumb of the big corporations.

The big corporations said — weak regulation, weak law and order for corporations.

And the Democrats and Republicans delivered for their corporate paymasters.

The
rest of us — taxpayers and workers alike — will now suffer the
consequences — through either increased taxes, lost jobs — or both.

For his entire career, Ralph Nader has been
sounding the alarm about the dangers of deregulation, about the dangers
of a hands off approach to corporate power.

Time to listen up.

Reassert the public will.

And get behind the one Presidential candidacy that has the track record and will power to set things straight.

If
you give $100 or more now, we will send you In Pursuit of Justice, the
520-page book of essays by Ralph Nader — essays on corporate power, the
Constitution, and transforming our country. If you donate $100 now, we
will send you this historic collection — autographed by the man
himself — Ralph Nader. (This offer ends at 11:59 p.m. tonight.)